Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Execution (2002)

Christopher Meloni: Detective Elliot Stabler

Quotes 

• Matthew Linwood Brodus : [to Stabler]  I hate psychiatrists. Don't you?

  Elliot Stabler : Absolutely.

  Matthew Linwood Brodus : [to Dr. Huang]  You're not liked. How does that make you feel?

• Alexandra Cabot : Jersey won't play ball.

  Elliot Stabler : Okay. What can we do?

  Alexandra Cabot : File an official request, let it go through channels.

  Elliot Stabler : By the time we get that answer, Brodus will be dead and buried.

  Alexandra Cabot : We can't tell another state how to run its business. New Jersey already has an inferiority complex when it comes to New York. They're digging in their heels on principle.

  Elliot Stabler : Alex, how many phone calls from victims have you gotten asking why you lost a case and what you're gonna do about it?

  Alexandra Cabot : I've had my share.

  Elliot Stabler : And how many times do you actually get a second chance?

• Elliot Stabler : [to Munch]  You recanvassed the Cooper neighborhood?

  John Munch : Yeah, and you owe me a new pair of shoes. No, but after ten years, people move, they don't remember.

  Elliot Stabler : How about that teacher, Andrea Mason?

  John Munch : Yeah.

  Elliot Stabler : Did you find her?

  John Munch : The interview is scheduled for tomorrow morning. I got you covered, Elliot. If there was anything solid, I'd let you know.

  Elliot Stabler : I'm running out of time here, John.

  John Munch : You're running out of options. The Coopers are running out of time.

• Elliot Stabler : [to Mr. Henderson]  Sir, I'm here to request that you face your son's killer and ask him to talk to us.

  Mr. Henderson : Why? Why would you ever ask me to do that?

  Elliot Stabler : He may have some information to give another grieving family some relief.

  Mr. Henderson : I can't.

  Elliot Stabler : I believe you can, sir. In my opinion, any man who opposed the death sentence on behalf of his son's killer is strong enough to face him.

  Mr. Henderson : I don't give a damn what you think. Yes, I spoke at his sentencing, but I didn't do it for him, I did it for me. His death doesn't lessen my pain and it sure as hell doesn't give me back my son.

  Elliot Stabler : I apologize for reopening your wounds.

  Mr. Henderson : You didn't. My wounds never heal.

  Elliot Stabler : At least you know who killed your child. Debbie Cooper's parents don't.

• Elliot Stabler : [to Cabot]  So what are our chances?

  Alexandra Cabot : It's hard to gauge. I'd say we're about even.

  Elliot Stabler : So what's with the face? You're acting like we've already lost.

  Alexandra Cabot : Something about helping a convicted serial killer avoid the needle he so justly deserves does not sit well with me.

• Matthew Linwood Brodus : She was an idiot, a moon-eyed cow. Debbie just wanted someone to tell her ugly ass that she was pretty. Thought she was in a Harlequin romance. Stupid bitch.

  Elliot Stabler : Debbie?

  Matthew Linwood Brodus : Slip of the tongue. One of my Jersey girls.

  Elliot Stabler : No, it's not. None of them are named Debbie or Deborah. None of the middle names match either. Why don't you stop lying? Let's just get down to it. You know, you're not as smart as you think you are.

• Dr. George Huang : [to Broadus]  Tell me about your first time.

  Matthew Linwood Brodus : I'm asking the questions now. You tell me about your first time. How do you remember it?

  Dr. George Huang : Fondly.

  Matthew Linwood Brodus : I'm not asking you.

  Elliot Stabler : Fondly.

  Matthew Linwood Brodus : I don't have time for games.

  Elliot Stabler : It was painful.

  Matthew Linwood Brodus : For who?

  Elliot Stabler : For her. I thought I'd done something wrong.

  Matthew Linwood Brodus : You did. You knocked her up. For all your sweaty fumbling, you earned a lifetime of responsibility.

• Elliot Stabler : [to Munch]  Huang wants me to meet him down at the FBI field office for lunch. Maybe he's got some good news.

  John Munch : Good news from the Feds? More like, "Bend over, we're taking over your case."

  Elliot Stabler : John, times have changed. They're not the lying bastards they used to be.

• Elliot Stabler : I know how to interrogate a prisoner.

  Dr. George Huang : I know you do, but I doubt you've encountered this level of depravity before.

  Elliot Stabler : I've dealt with serial killers before...

  Dr. George Huang : Who hunted for short periods of time. They're more psychologically inclined to confess. Brodus hunted for years without detection. He's like Dahmer and Lucas and Bundy. Sometimes it takes years for killers like that to relax their guard.

  Elliot Stabler : Look, they all want to talk. Even Bundy cooperated in the end.

  Dr. George Huang : Yeah, when you get closer to the kill date they become more pliable, but you gotta remember this is a game. Brodus is holding all the cards.

• Elliot Stabler : [When Huang refuses to give Robert Rule a deal]  What the hell was that all about?

  Dr. George Huang : Procedure. I suggest you get familiar with it before we do any more interviews.

  Elliot Stabler : We make deals all the time. You should've heard Rule out.

  Dr. George Huang : He doesn't know anything except for background. We'd just be wasting our time with anything else.

  Elliot Stabler : Yeah, how do you know that if you don't talk to the scrote?

  Dr. George Huang : Because Brodus would never have told him anything substantive. He would've considered Rule beneath him.

  Elliot Stabler : You know that for a fact, huh?

  Dr. George Huang : I've been doing this for a long time.

  Elliot Stabler : So have I. You don't get up from the table until you've seen everyone's hand.

• Hannah Cooper : Can you prove that Matthew Brodus killed our daughter?

  Alexandra Cabot : Not in a court of law, but we are reasonably sure he's guilty and he is being executed for his crimes.

  Hannah Cooper : Are you familiar with the name Ottis Toole?

  Elliot Stabler : He's the guy every cop believes murdered John Walsh's six-year-old son, Adam. Toole died of AIDS on death row before we could prove it.

  Hannah Cooper : And after 21 years, you can still see the rage and grief that John Walsh carries with him.

  Allen Cooper : His hope died along with his son's killer. If you don't do everything within your power to prove Matthew Brodus murdered our daughter, so will ours.

• Alexandra Cabot : The state can't execute an unhealthy man. It's the law.

  Alan Messinger : So as long as he's in a coma, we can't get justice. What a waste.

  Elliot Stabler : You're wrong. I got a confession on Debbie Cooper.

  Alan Messinger : They won't care. Would you?